James Street railway station

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James Street railway station is situated in Liverpool, England, on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network. It is an underground station; access is via lift from James Street and (at peak times) via a tunnel from Water Street.

[edit] History

Water Street entrance sign for James Street station from just after electrification of the Mersey Railway.

The station opened as the original terminus of Mersey Railway Tunnel in 1886. In 1892 the tunnel was extended to Liverpool Central station. By this time, there were trains from Liverpool to Birkenhead Park and Rock Ferry stations in Birkenhead. The line was electrified in 1903. Through trains to West Kirby and New Brighton commenced in 1938, when the former Wirral Railway routes were electrified. There were originally two platforms, either side of a twin-track tunnel.

In the 1970s, the station was rebuilt as part of the expansion of the Merseyrail network. A new single-track tunnel known as the Loop was constructed, from the Mersey Railway Tunnel via a new third platform at James Street, then Moorfields, Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central, rejoining the Mersey Railway just to the east of James Street. This opened in 1977. Part of the original tunnel between Liverpool Central and James Street was used by the new Northern Line. The remaining part of that tunnel which is used by neither the Wirral Line nor Northern Lines was retained, to provide a connection between the two for moving empty stock. Of the original two platforms at James Street, only the westbound remains in regular use. The second, which is situated on the empty stock line, is not normally used by passenger services. However, if the Loop is closed for any reason (for example, engineering works), this platform is brought into use to turn back trains arriving from the Wirral.

[edit] Services

Trains operate every five minutes (Monday-Saturday daytime) around the Liverpool city centre loop to Moorfields, Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central. In the other direction, trains operate every five minutes to Hamilton Square, from where they continue every 15 minutes to each of New Brighton, West Kirby and Hooton. From Hooton, trains continue every 30 minutes to each of Chester and Ellesmere Port. At other times, trains operate every 30 minutes to each of the four destinations, giving a service every 5-10 minutes to Hamilton Square.

Until the mid-1990s James Street closed at 7pm; it now remains open throughout the evening.

[edit] External links

• Train times and station information for James Street railway station from National Rail
• Street map and aerial photo of James Street railway station from Multimap.com

• Station information from Merseyrail

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